goodreads | Entries tagged with 2010: june

Title: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 152
Date read: June, 2010

Bree Tanner can barely remember life before she had uncannily powerful senses, superhuman reflexes and unstoppable physical strength. Life before she had a relentless thirst for blood... life before she became a vampire.

Then Bree finds an unexpected friend in Diego, a newborn just as curious as Bree about their mysterious creator, whom they know only as "her". As they come to realize that the newborns are pawns in a game larger than anything they could have imagines, Bree and Diego must choose sides and decide whom to trus. But when everything you know about vampires is based on a lie, how do you find the truth?

To be honest, I wasn't sure I even wanted to read this novella. Everybody who's read Eclipse knows what's going to happen to Bree - why would I want to get to know and find sympathy for somebody I knew would die in the end?

And I have to admit, even after having read it, that's still my thought. This is NOT a novella for people who want happy endings - or even just closure. It was interesting enough, but I found myself much less engaged than usual, probably because I didn't care - and didn't want to care. The reason I still gave it a rating of 3, is that I can clearly see that this isn't the fault of the book.

I still love the Twilight saga, but I doubt I'm ever going to reread this.

Title: Frygt (Fear)
Author: Helene Tegtmeier
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 2.5/5
# pages: 192
Date read: June, 2010

Police officer Martin R. Larsen is called out to the Botanical Gardens of Aarhus as a body has been found.

Three friends held a picnic in the garden at the time of the murder, but Martin can't figure out whether he should suspect them for the murder, or if they themselves are the next victims... for all signs indicate that he will strike again...

Not a very pleasant book, and I'm very dubious as to how realistic it was. That's usually not a problem, but I'm pretty sure this book was supposed to be realistic, which was unfortunate. I think the book would have benefitted from being longer, so not quite as much had to happen in as short a span of pages. The plot could easily have been stretched another 100 pages, as long as the author was competent enough to fill out the details. I'm not entirely sure that would have been the case though.

Title: Idol Musings
Author: Various
Genre: Short-stories, essays
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 644
Date read: June, 2010

A collection of entries written by contestants of LJ Idol

I don't think the thrill of reading my own name in print is ever going to get old :-D

This collection of Idol Musings is very representative of the competition. Some entries made me laugh, some made me cry, some left me cold, and some made me sit back with a feeling that all is right with the world.

I doubt the book will register on the radar of people who haven't either participated in the writing competition themselves, or know some of the contributers, and that's a shame, because there's a lot of really, really good writing in there.

It's not a book I can sit down and read from A-Z, but for a few essays here and there, it's a pure treat.

Title: Too Busy Not To Pray
Author: Bill Hybels
Genre: Christian non-fiction
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 180
Date read: June, 2010

Somebody recommended this book to me many years ago. I no longer remember who, and I'm not even sure I got the right book, as Jo Carro has also written one with the exact same title. However, I'd been utterly unable to find that one, and the library had this one, so I'm going to claim this was it! ;)

Besides, even if it wasn't, I'm SO glad I've read it. Bill Hybels tackles some of the large issues about praying - how to pray, when to pray (scheduled prayer time is just as important as spontaneous prayer), why some prayers are answered and others aren't, and that listening is just as important a part of praying as talking is.

Very thought-provoking, very inspiring and very interesting, even if Bill Hybels didn't always touch on the topics that are most relevant to me: I have no doubt at all that God is able to provide whatever miracle I'm praying for - I wonder if he's going to. I know that listening is an important part of prayer - I just don't know how to, as my mind is always too busy with other things. He did have some practical advice though, which I'm going to try to follow.

A highly recommendable book, which I think I need to own for myself so I can underline stuff.

Title: Who Do I Lean On?
Author: Neta Jackson
Genre: Christian fiction
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 358
Date read: June, 2010

Gabby expects a fight from her husband over custody of their boys, but she is taken aback when he leans on her for a loan to cover his gambling debts. When she turns him down, Philip makes a desperate move that puts Gabby, her friends at the shelter, and even the House of Hope at risk.

Neta Jackson never fails to inspire me through her books, and thankfully this third book in the House of Hope series was no exception. Though I did still occasionally want to shake Gabby for her bad choices, she had come far enough to realize her mistakes herself, before they got her in too much trouble.

Phillip was at his most likeable here, and I was grateful for this glimpse into the person he used to be - until now it had been difficult to understand why Gabby ever married him in the first place. Here we got to see behind his ambition to the person he could be.

I did think the Lee story line was much too easily resolved though. It seemed a bit too convenient - I would have liked to see Gabby come to a decision by herself, rather than being forced into it by an ultimatum.

But as always Neta Jackson delivered an AMAZING story that made me ache to be part of that kind of Christian fellowship myself.

I read the book in one sitting, and stayed up until 2am to finish it. Unfortunately the next (and last) book in the series won't be out until March 2011.

Title: The Scarlet Pimpernel
Author: Baroness Emmuska Orczy
Genre: Classic
Rating: 4/5
# pages: Audiobook ~8hrs
Date read: June, 2010

In the novel, Marguerite Blakeney, a French actress, is married to a Sir Percy Blakeney, a seemingly vain and simple man. The French Ambassador to England, Citizen Chauvelin, blackmails Marguerite into giving him information that leads to his discovery of the Scarlet Pimpernel's true identity. Marguerite only realizes once her husband has once again left for France that the man she betrayed, the Scarlet Pimpernel, is in fact none other but Sir Percy.

I'd seen a movie version of this ages ago, but remembered nothing of it other than the "They seek him here, they seek him there" rhyme and that I rather enjoyed it, so when I discovered that one of my favourite Librivox readers had recorded it, I decided to try it out.

And it's quite good. Nothing that blew me away, but definitely an enjoyable read. Quite predictable - I either guessed or subconsciously remembered all the twists - but as it wasn't exactly a whodunnit, that didn't bother me.

Title: She's the One
Author: Gregory Gilderman
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: 2.5/5
# pages: 189
Date read: June, 2010

In She's the One, Gilderman reveals what every woman should know about men who are looking to settle down with the right woman. Honest, insightful, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, his advice includes: Don't torment his jealous mind, Don't destroy him when you fight, Make him feel like a success (even if deep down you're not so sure), Be nice to his mom (even if she's the devil), Stop worrying about feminism, Forget The Rules, speed dating, and every piece of advice ever written in a women's magazine.

I don't know how I managed this, but I'd gotten completely the wrong impression about this book. I'd somehow been lead to expect that it was a Christian relationship book (probably by myself), and was therefore quite surprised to discover that that was definitely not the case.

Rather, it's a book for 20-30 year-old single women, whom the author think are being mislead by the media and he therefore wants to tell them what men really want.

So really not at all relevant for somebody who's been married for 7 years. Sure, there were some few pieces of advice I could use (e.g. a chapter on fighting, which was actually quite an eye-opener), but in general I read it more for its entertainment value than anything else.

Thankfully it did have that. Gregory Gilderman knows how to write catchy essays, and while I'm not always sure he's representative of "Average Joe", he's probably right more often than he's wrong.

So if you're single and looking for some light-hearted advice, I'd pick it up, but if you're in a committed relationship, I'd give it a miss.

Title: Halfway to Forever
Author: Karen Kingsbury
Genre: Christian fiction
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 339
Date read: June, 2010

Matt and Hannah Bronzan have found a new life in the face of devastating loss. Together with Hannah's daughter, Jenny, they are finally moving forward - toward the adoption of a little girl. A younger sister for Jenny, a daughter for them to love and raise together. But just when the dream seems to be coming true, disaster strikes. Can Hannah survive the loss of another daughter?

Jade and Tanner Eastman love the Bronzans. Matt and Tanner are partners in a successful religious freedom law firm, and the two couples share a great deal. Not the least of which has been Jade and Tanner's struggle to have children. When they discover Jade is pregnant, their joy is boundless. Until the rest of the news hits... and suddenly what should be a joyous event becomes a threat to Jade's very life. Will Tanner come through decades of loneliness only to face losing Jade one final time?

I'm glad I decided to give Karen Kingsbury a second chance, because I LOVED Halfway to Forever. It had all the good points of A Moment of Weakness and none (or only very few) of the bad ones. I do realize that this means I'll have to read more by her to figure out which is the rule and which is the exception ;-)

Halfway to Forever is a wonderful book about trusting God through adversity, and listening to Him, even when He seems far away. It's probably too in-your-face for a non-Christian, but an excellent reminder for a Christian. It's a sad book though. The adversity the main characters encounter is pretty severe, and I cried buckets while reading (good thing I was home alone!), but it was also very, very beautiful and reaffirming.

Title: A Moment of Weakness
Author: Karen Kingsbury
Genre: Christian fiction
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 433
Date read: June, 2010

Jade and Tanner were childhood friends until scandal drove them apart. Then one golden summer they found each other again and shared dreams of forever. But in a moment of weakness they made a decision that would tear them apart for nearly a decade. Now, Jade's unfaithful husband wants to destroy her in a custody battle that is about to shock the nation. Only one man can help her in her darkest hour. And only one old woman knows the secret about that summer -- and the truth that can set them all free.

I honestly don't really know how to rate or review this book. There were parts of it I loved, and parts where I just wanted to throw the book across the room. I think I'll have to try something new, and do a review in bullet form.

Things I Liked
* The childhood friendship between Jade and Tanner. Very sweet.
* Jade's reaction to meeting God. Brought tears to my eyes.
* Jade and Tanner's friendship 'that summer'.
* Jade and Ty's relationship
* The 'conversations' with God. I always wish I could hear Him that clearly.

Things I Disliked
* The heavy, heavy, HEAVY forshadowing. It almost made me give up on the book already on page 70!
* The blatant moralizing.
* How the evil people were evil, with no remedying qualities.
* The unrealistic judge and courtcase (at least I hope both were unrealistic!).
* Worst of all - how things just got worse, and worse, and worse, and worse, and you could see that it was going to continue downhill (thanks to the lovely forshadowing mentioned above), until finally everything was resolved lickity-split and (as also mentioned above) in a very unrealistic manner. When you end up saying, "Oh, come ON!" as you read the final pages - it is not a good sign.

I don't know if this is standard for Karen Kingsbury, or just specific to this book, so I am going to give her a second chance, because as cringe-worthy as the bad things were, I LOVED the good things, so did end up finding it slightly more good than bad.

Title: It Must've Been Something I Ate
Author: Jeffrey Steingarten
Genre: Non-fiction, eaasys
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 320
Date read: June, 2010

The Man Who Ate Everything proves that he will do anything to eat everything. That includes going fishing for his own supply of bluefin tuna belly; nearly incinerating his oven in pursuit of the perfect pizza crust, and spending four days boning and stuffing three different fowl - into each other - to produce the Cajun specialty called "turducken".

It Must've Been Something I Ate finds Steingarten testing the virtues of chocolate and gourmet salts; debunking the mythology of lactose intolerance and Chinese Food Syndrome; roasting marrow bones for his dog , and offering recipes for everything from lobster rolls to gratin dauphinois.

An amusing collection of food-related essays. Like in almost all essay collections there were some I laughed at, some I found interesting, and some I couldn't relate to at all. Steingarten does have a very entertaining writing style, but I must admit that I didn't care much about his adventures when going fishing or the quest for finding the perfect original French cuisine restaurant.

On the other hand, I loved reading about his research of chocolate (who wouldn't!), his taste experiments of salt and coffee, and the description of how to make the perfect bread and pizza crust.

A fun read, and each essay only takes about 10-15 minutes to get through.

Title: The Gift of Fear
Author: Gavin de Becker
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 300
Date read: June, 2010

Victims of violent behavior usually feel a sense of fear before any threat or violence takes place. They may distrust the fear, or it may impel them to some action that saves their lives. A leading expert on predicting violent behavior, de Becker believes we can all learn to recognize these signals of the "universal code of violence," and use them as tools to help us survive. The book teaches how to identify the warning signals of a potential attacker and recommends strategies for dealing with the problem before it becomes life threatening. The case studies are gripping and suspenseful, and include tactics for dealing with similar situations.

Very engagingly written. I found the subject interesting, and the language easy to read (meaning that it wasn't as dry and technical as it could have been). Hopefully I'll never have to put any of this theory into practise, and Becker himself said that the book was more relevant for people in the US than anywhere else.

What I found especially fascinating about the book was the view it gave the reader into the psyche of violent people - how there are always warning signs, how a person never "just snaps" and how to trust ones instincts. For that reason alone, I found the first half of the book most interesting, and it more thoroughly focused on what to look for. The last chapters was more made up of examples met by Becker's firm than case studies the average Jane could learn from.

I guess you could accuse the book of fearmongering, and I probably wouldn't recommend it to somebody already suffering from an anxiety disorder, but Becker does make a case for not worrying unnecessarily, and I guess that's what it all boils down to.

A very quick read, which I found difficult to put down.

Title: My Sergei: A Love Story
Author: Ekaterina Gordeeva
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 187
Date read: June, 2010

Thrown together as children by the Soviet regime and told to skate for the good of the state, Sergei Grinkov and Katia Gordeeva became the most celebrated pairs skaters in the world--falling madly in love, marrying, and having a beautiful baby daughter. But after winning two Olympic gold medals and four World Championships, Katia's world collapsed when Sergei suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 28. A deeply moving, heartfelt memoir of their remarkable lives, this is Katia's final love letter to her beloved Sergei.

I picked this up because I'm fascinated by figure skating, and thought it sounded really interesting. And it was in parts, but unfortunately Ekaterina Gordeeva is obviously not a writer, so certain sections of the book were rather clunky making the emotions difficult to relate to.

Two things really effected my experience of the book though. The first was discovering that I may actually have seen Ekaterina and Sergie perform 'live'! At least I remember my mum taking my sister and me to an international skating competition back when I was a teen, and it might very well have been the 1994 World Championship in Copenhagen.

The second was thanks to modern technology - about halfway through the book, I realized that many of the competitions mentioned would probably be on YouTube. Honestly, it was a really, really odd feeling to read about a program, and then sit down to watch it on the computer - especially knowing that Sergei died rehearing for just such a competition.

It was a surprisingly slow read, but well worth the time spent on it.

Title: The Monsters of Otherness (Erec Rex #2)
Author: Kaza Kingsley
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 320
Date read: June, 2010

Trouble is brewing in quiet, pleasant Alypium, and only Erec Rex can make it better. All of the baby dragons have mysteriously disappeared, and King Piter has lost the trust of his people. Worse, the evil Stain brothers will become the new rulers of the Kingdom of the Keepers unless Erec returns to Alypium and challenge them. But if Erec becomes king, the power of the royal scepter could destroy him completely.

As Erec performs the deadly quests to become king, he discovers that the right path brings many risks and few rewards-and when he must delve into the substance that holds our world together, he must summon all of his strength just to survive.

The second book about Erec Rex, and I think I might even like this a tad more than the first book. The first book tired to introduce too much of a new universe too quickly, which made the start rather cluttered. This sequel didn't suffer from that issue, meaning that the plot was a lot cleaner and got started much faster.

Of course the story is rather predictable, but it's well-written and fun! I like the main characters, and loved hearing about the tasks Erec had to fulfill in order to become a king -- even if he did only manage the first 2 in this book. I'm already looking forward to reading the next!

Title: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Author: Jonathan Safran Foer
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 2.5/5
# pages: 323
Date read: June, 2010

Meet Oskar Schell, an inventor, Francophile, tambourine player, Shakespearean actor, jeweler, and pacifist. He is nine years old. And he is on an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York. His mission is to find the lock that fits a mysterious key belonging to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11.

An inspired innocent, Oskar is alternately endearing, exasperating, and hilarious as he careens from Central Park to Coney Island to Harlem on his search. Along the way he is always dreaming up inventions to keep those he loves safe from harm. What about a birdseed shirt to let you fly away? What if you could actually hear everyone's heartbeat? His goal is hopeful, but the past speaks a loud warning in stories of those who've lost loved ones before.

As Oskar roams New York, he encounters a motley assortment of humanity who are all survivors in their own way. He befriends a 103-year-old war reporter, a tour guide who never leaves the Empire State Building, and lovers enraptured or scorned. Ultimately, Oskar ends his journey where it began, at his father's grave. But now he is accompanied by the silent stranger who has been renting the spare room of his grandmother's apartment. They are there to dig up his father's empty coffin.

This is a really, really weird book. I still haven't quite decided what I think of it. I can see its literary merit, but I guess it just didn't appeal to me at all. I did like the way Jonathan Foer used the medium to tell the story though. I always appreciate it when authors dare use the book as more than just something to carry the words. However, the writing style did come across as very artsy at times. Not necessarily a bad thing (Milan Kundera does the same, and I rather liked his The Unbearable Lightness of Being), but completely different from what I had expected, so I wasn't prepared for it. However, it wouldn't surprise me if this becomes the kind of book people study in high school 5-10 years from now.

I'm glad I've read it, but I'm also glad I just got it out of the library rather than buy it, as I doubt it's a book I'd want to read again.

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Page Summary

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner - Stephenie Meyer
Frygt - Helene Tegtmeier
Idol Musings - Various
Too Busy Not To Pray - Bill Hybel
Who Do I Lean On? - Neta Jackson
The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Emmuska Orczy
She's the One - Gregory Gilderman
Halfway to Forever - Karen Kingsbury
A Moment of Weakness - Karen Kingsbury
It Must've Been Something I Ate - Jeffrey Steingarten
The Gift of Fear - Gavin de Becker
My Sergei - Ekaterina Gordeeva
The Monsters of Otherness - Kaza Kingsley
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer

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So many books, so little time.

Entries tagged with 2010: june

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The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner - Stephenie Meyer

Frygt - Helene Tegtmeier

Idol Musings - Various

Too Busy Not To Pray - Bill Hybel

Who Do I Lean On? - Neta Jackson

The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Emmuska Orczy

She's the One - Gregory Gilderman

Halfway to Forever - Karen Kingsbury

A Moment of Weakness - Karen Kingsbury

It Must've Been Something I Ate - Jeffrey Steingarten

The Gift of Fear - Gavin de Becker

My Sergei - Ekaterina Gordeeva

The Monsters of Otherness - Kaza Kingsley

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer